


A Second Chance

by SynmireGrimm



Category: The Crow (1994), The Crow (Movies), The Crow - All Media Types
Genre: Afterlife, At Life and Love, Crow - Freeform, F/M, Fear, Ghosts, NDE, Near Death Experiences, Second Chance, The Crow - Freeform, heroics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2016-02-06
Packaged: 2018-05-18 16:04:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5934457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SynmireGrimm/pseuds/SynmireGrimm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eric finds his second chance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Second Chance

The Crow AU: 

"They've taken Sarah." I hear a voice say. I frown. Sarah? The girl who comes to visit Shelly Webster and Eric Dravens graves every week?   
"How many?" another voice asks. "Two more. I can handle it, don't worry." and some labored breathing. "I'm not worried."   
Maybe I should introduce myself. I'm Aeon Xael (Zale) Quinn. I'm 21 years old, and 5' tall. I occasionally weigh over 100 pounds, but that's only if I eat my weight in food. I'm an orphan, and I come regularly to light a candle for my parents. They were murdered four years ago on my birthday. I was born October 31st, and it's currently really late at night on October 30th. Maybe very early in the morning of October 31st. I don't know. I couldn't sleep, so I walked a mile to get here.   
"Look, here's the plan. You stay in front, when they run out of ammo, I'll do the rest." I'm drug out of my thoughts by the voice of the second man. "Sounds like a great plan. There's just one problem." there's a slight groan, then silence. I was going in to the old sanctuary, but had stopped when I heard voices. I place my hand on my gun.   
Don't assume anything. I'm not a cop, agent, or criminal. I just carry protection. Daddy taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl. He believed all girls should carry protection. That's why I have a gun on my hip and a can of mace in my pocket.   
"Shit. Your bleeding everywhere.... I thought, ya know, you were.. Invincible." a pause. "I was." ...what? "I'm not anymore." a sigh. "Well. I guess you really will need my help, won't you?" shuffling, then a muffled groan of pain. I slink up to the door, pulling my gun and peeking through the doors. It sounds like these guys need help.  
I here the faint sound of voices from the belltower. Those must be the people that took the girl. I slip in to the church, then stop dead when I see the two men headed towards the belltower. "Sergeant Albrecht?" I ask in disbelief.   
The two men stop, and the dark skinned one turns slightly, then turns completely around, turning the white man with him. "Aeon? Girl, what ARE you doing here!?" he hisses. I scowl at him, ignoring the guy with the painted face who is staring at me. "What am I doing here!? You know I come three times a year to light a candle!" I hiss back. His face drops. "Aeon, you have to leave." he says. I laugh and shake my head.  
"No! I'm not letting a guy with face paint and God knows who else keep me from lighting that candle!" I say, getting upset. 

Eric's POV~  
All I can do is stare. She's beautiful. Platinum blonde hair, purple eyes, petite build, perfect curves. She's soaking wet, but when dry I'm sure her hair is loosely curled naturally. Its hanging in dripping sheets down to nearly her knees, and I'd bet everything that it's silky soft and feels like heaven against ones skin. She's wearing low rise leather jeans, and a black tank top that's risen up to reveal her flat stomach and curling black filigree stands out starkly against her porcelain skin. A tattoo of some sort that resides on her hip and lower.   
My hands itch to pull aside the leather pants to see the full design, but only the pain in my shoulder holds me back. I finish my scan of her tiny form to see black leather combat boots on her feet. She's got no jacket on, but there's a black gun in her hand, and I am pretty sure that's a can of mace sticking out of her pocket. She looks upset as she talks about not leaving because she needs to light a candle, and her thick, dark lashes-such an odd contrast with her hair, her eyebrows light as well- brush her cheekbones when she blinks. A single tear fall's from her cheek, and something primal rides inside me, fighting to get loose and destroy those who caused that tear to fall. She wipes her free hand, the tiny thing, over her face and frowns, her plump, red lips curling down gracefully. Very kissable lips.   
"Now are we going to do this, or not?" she asks. "I heard you say They have Sarah. We need to get her back, she doesn't deserve whatever this is. She's a good kid." She softly says the last bit. My curiousity rises. She is familiar with Sarah? Why didn't Sarah say anything about this ethereal creauture?   
_because, you stupid fool. You died, came back a year later, and have only deigned to speak to the girl a brief two times._ a voice in the back of my head says. I wince.   
"Earth to clown boy!" Aeon hisses and waves in my face. I blink and look down at her. She's so tiny, I tower a foot over her. I blink again. "Lets go." she says, raising her gun and approaching the tower. She slips in first, and I run in after her. She's crouched low beside the stairs in the shadows. I join her.   
Albrecht climbs the first few steps, and Myca shoots at him. He shoots back, then they exchange a few more shots before Albrecht ducks a little. Suddenly he's gasping and falling. "Albrecht!" Aeon whispers, and crawls past me and up the steps to him. All I can do for a moment is stare at her as she wiggled along.   
I snap out of it when she hisses my name. "Eric! Get your ass up here!" she grumbles. I crouch and run after her, keeping low. I grab Albrechts hand. "You were supposed to stay behind me." I say. "I think I messed up." is all he says. I stand and turn, going up the next few steps, then rushing after Aeon as she had slipped away and up the steps without me noticing.   
I stop briefly as I see Myca a few flights above me. Aeon keeps going silently up the stairs, and I follow after her again, a nasty ball of worry settling in my stomach. I can't call out, since they didn't see Aeon yet and they don't know she's here, I don't want to endanger her further.  
All I can hear for several long moments is my footsteps and My breathing. I can't see Aeon, but I don't hear anything so I can only hope she's waiting for me out of sight.   
Suddenly, Myca is across from me. But i still don't see or hear Aeon and My worry grows for her, and especially for Sarah.  
Myca has a gun and My crow in her hands. "This is all the power you ever had. Now, it is mine. Pity, there's not more time... For us." she raises the gun and clicks the hammer. Suddenly, my crow escapes from her hand and attacks her face. She screams, then fall's through the banister, only just catching the rope to ring the bell with. Her eyes are a bloody mess, and she keeps making sounds of pain. I can't find it within myself to give a damn.   
Suddenly, Aeon is there, and leaping from the stairway into the rope, kicking Myca off it. Myca fall's with a final scream, and it's over for her. Aeon swings on the rope for a few seconds, then leaps on to the landing beside me. I grab her arms and look her over for bruises or bleeding.  
"I'm fine." she whispers, looking up at me with a smile. Relief so strong it's shocking crashes over me in a tidal wave. "Lets go get Sarah." she says, taking my hand and leading me up the steps.  
We reach the top of them, and she climbs up and goes through the hatch above us, me shortly behind her. I just barely clear the hatch, and I'm grunting in pain, when I hear Sarah's scream.  
"Help Eric, I'm scared!" I look through the glass-less window and see Top Dollar standing there with Sarah at the edge of the roof. Aeon curses, then climbs out the window, me struggling to follow after her. "Let me go!" Sarah orders, struggling. Aeon walks along the roof ahead of me, stopping halfway.   
"Top Dollar, let her go." Aeon begs. I can hear Sarah whimpering. "Aeon, save me!" she cries, and My heart breaks. Aeons free hand clenched at her side. "Top dollar, let her GO!"  
"Let her go!" I say loudly just after Aeon goes silent. I slip around her, and approach Top Dollar and Sarah, stopping mere feet away.   
"You can have me. I won't fight you." I say. "Alright." top dollar rasps, then tosses Sarah aside. "NO!" Aeon and I shout together. Top Dollar unsheathes his sword. Suddenly, Aeon is slipping around me and sliding down the roof to Sarah in a flash of white hair. My heart clenches, and I clench my teeth. They need to be okay. They have to be. I have to stop Top Dollar before my time here is up.  
I look over at Top Dollar just in time to jump back a step and avoid his blade. I roll backwards to avoid his next swing, and top dollar slips, only to pull himself back up. 

Aeon's POV~  
I hold Sarah tightly to me. "Sarah, listen to me very closely. I'm going to try to pull us up to the next ledge, then I'm going to need you to grab it and move towards the belltower. Do you understand me?" I ask her.  
"Y-yes. Aeon, I'm scared." she shudders. "Dont be. I got you, okay? I got you."   
I tense my muscles, and push Sarah up to the next graspable ledge one handed. She clings to that ledge instantly, and then calls down to me. "I got it. You can let go of me and climb up." she says shakily. I drop my hand down and grasp the shingle ledge I'm still holding on to below Sarah and take a deep breath.   
"Sarah, move to your right. Keep a firm hold with your left hand, and reach with your right. Once you have a firm hold with your right, slide your body over then move your left hand in to position next to your right. Keep doing that all the way down to the tower." I instruct her. She does as I say, and I wait for her to clear the space I need before I brace my feet on the very edge of the room and push myself up with my legs. I barely catch the ledge Sarah's on, and My heart is beating a million miles a minute. I can hear Eric and Top Dollar battling above us, but my main concern right now is getting Sarah and myself to safety.   
Taking my own instructions to heart, I move along steadily but slowly after Sarah. I am counting to twenty for each breath in or breath out, and I'm sure that's the only reason I'm not passing out or throwing up or freezing up in shock.   
I have an intense fear of heights. I am not a happy camper right now, lets just say.   
~  
Sarah and I reach the bell tower wall, and I grab on to Sarah once more. I push her up my body, then give her the boost she needs to latch on the the main ledge. She pulls herself up on her knees and kneels there as she waits for me. I look down at the next ledge down, and I carefully focus on that and not the ground as I hook the toe of my boots on the inch wide ledge below me.   
Confident I have a good grip, I shove myself up, only to immediately regret  it as the roof below my body collapses. My muscles lock up in fear and I can hear Sarah screaming for Eric.   
I'm barely hanging on to the ledge I've got my hands on, and I feel the dread and the resignation simultaneously well up in me as I hear the beam I'm holding on to creak and groan. I'm going to die, and there's nothing I can do about it. "Sarah!" I shout.   
"Aeon! Aeon, hold on! Hold on, Aeon!" she sobs back. I smile up at her as the tears fall from my eyes, mixing with the rain dripping down my face. "Sarah, sweetheart. I love you like you are my little sister." I call to her, glancing over at where Eric and Top Dollar have moved there fight to down the roof from me.   
"I- I love you, too, Aeon. Please, please hold on." she cries. I close my eyes for a moment in silent sorrow as I feel the beam begin to break. "Sarah, go. Go, go to Albrecht, call the police. Go and don't look back." I say. She looks ready to collapse in tears.  
"Aeon!" Eric screams. Sarah turns her head to him, and I watch as her face turns from one of despair to one of horror. "Eric watch out!" I turn my head, just as Top Dollar plunges his sword through Eric's stomach.   
"Sarah, GO!" I scream. She sobs, and fall's through the window. I can hear her as she starts to run down the steps, and relief fills me. The beam gives a groan, then snap with a shriek of wood on wood. I fall just as Eric kneels by where I was, and I can see the horror and sorrow on his face as I plummet to my death.   
My worst fear, and this is how I die. Oh, the irony.

Eric's POV~  
I scream her name as she fall's in to the darkness, my heart breaking. She doesn't make a sound as she falls, and I think that's what breaks me.   
~   
I stumbled down the stairs to find a sobbing Sarah and a still living Albrecht. At least something good came of this night.  
I light a cigarette for Albrecht, but then he spits it out with a 'aw, yuck'. "I'm quitting as of now, if I live." I smile.  
"Stay with him until help comes." I tell Sarah. She starts to say something, but I've already left. I go to Shelly's grave.   
I fall to my knees and start softly crying as I collapse against her grave.  
I hear the police arrive, and I close my eyes.  
When I open them again, Shelly is there in a white dress. She kneels in front of me and smiles as she brushes my hair behind my ear.   
"Eric." she says simply. I'm in awe. "Shelly..." I whisper reverently.  
"Eric, you need to go to the room Aeon fell in. She's still alive, but she needs your help if she's to stay that way." Shelly says. I frown, confused.  
"Eric, the gods of the realm of the dead have granted you a second chance for you to live. If you accept their gift, you can help her. If you dont, she dies." Shelly murmurs, gently stroking my cheek.  
"But... What about you?" I ask.  
"I have accepted my fate and moved on to my afterlife already. You have a chance to live. Take it. Save her. Save yourself. Move on, and live happily with her. She's your redemption. You have only to accept it." she whispers, stands, kisses my forehead, and turns to walk away.   
"Do not give up such a priceless gift, my love." she calls as she fades. All I can do for a moment is sit in shock. I struggle to stand, and stumble towards the cathedral. The cops have already cleared out. As I walk closer to the cathedral, my body hurts less. I can feel myself healing from my wounds. Almost there, I stop and look back. My broken grave lies perfect, as if I never rose from it. I turn to look back at the cathedral. This is my second chance. For me. For Shelly. For Aeon. 

3rd person POV~  
The resurrected man moved through the sanctuary, and to a door that his crow is by, squawking at him. A door he did not see before. He opens the door, and walks into the dark room. He finds a light switch and flips it. Dim lights come on, and flicker, revealing a pool of water. The water is crystal clear and the pool looks brand new, which is strange. A few bits of debris from the roof float at the top of the water and Eric looks around. Seeing nothing at first glance, he turns back to the pool, seeing the "Baptism Pools" sign posted by the stairs. He noticed a dark shape at the bottom of the pool, and his eyes widen.   
He rushes over to the pool and dives in near the middle of the giant body of water. He swims to the bottom, and wraps his arms around the unconscious Aeon. Her hair floats in a wide halo around her for a moment, then he's pushing off the bottom and rushing towards topside.  
They break the surface, and he gasps for breath as he swims with the limp girl in his arms to the pool edge. Upon reaching the edge, he places her gently on the cement there, then hauls himself up near her head. He takes her pulse, noticing the slowing of it, and starts CPR on the tiny female. He begins to get worried as he reaches his third set of compressions, when suddenly she's rolling over and coughing up loads of water.   
He pulls her hair from her face and rubs her back as she empties the water from her stomach.   
When she finishes, she's turns to look at her saviour, seeing a soaking wet Eric Draven framed by the sunrise. She smiles tremulously up at him, and then his arms around her and their lips are pressed to each others.  
~fin~


End file.
